Sunday, April 9, 2017

The leopard
(Pantherapardus) is one of the five
"big cats" in the genus Panthera. Compared to other members of
Felidae, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large
skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but has a smaller, lighter
physique. Honestly, I do
not understand the difference between – Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, Panther,
Cougar and Tigers !!

A female leopard
was caught from a farm near Varelivillage of Mandvi in Surat on Monday. This
was the 20th leopard rescued from the area in past 18 months, forest
officials said. In past 18 months, 19 male leopards and
one female leopard have been rescued from the vicinity of the same village. It is reported that following complaints by
villagers, a cage was placed along with bait in the farm of Yusuf Mahida, three
days ago. A female leopard of around two-and-half-years was trapped in the cage
and was shifted to a shelter by the forest officials. The leopard will be
released at a safer location in deep forest, forest officials said.Meanwhile,
the villagers complained of movement of two more leopards in the area and
demanded that cages be placed there !

A beginner would
enjoy the Crossword puzzle ‘plane crash in Himalayas (5) – ans being Nepal’ ..
.. .. away in Nepal, its International airport was originally named Gauchaur
Airport, after the area of Kathmandu where it was situated. The formal beginning
of aviation in Nepal occurred in 1949, with the landing of a Beechcraft Bonanza
aircraft, carrying the Indian ambassador. The first charter flight took place
between Gauchaur and Calcutta, in a Himalayan Aviation Dakota on 20 February
1950. In 1955 the airport was inaugurated by King Mahendra and renamed
Tribhuvan Airport in memory of the king's father.

The airport was in
news for its temporary closure – reports state that Nepal had to close its only
international airport for around half an hour on Monday after a leopard was
spotted close to the runway.A spokesman for the airport in Kathmandu said
wildlife and security officers were searching for the animal, believed to be
hiding in the drains, after it was spotted by a pilot.One international flight
was delayed but no other flight was scheduled during the closure; but the
hidden leopard could not be spotted.

Kathmandu is close
to forested hills and leopards are occasionally known to stray into the city.In
the past birds have posed serious safety problems at the single-runway airport,
although stray cattle and dogs have also been known to disrupt flights.In 2016,
a plane with nine passengers was forced to make an emergency landing when a
bird struck its right wing.Nineteen people were killed in 2012 when an aircraft
hit a bird and crashed shortly after taking off from the airport.

India would
remember this place for wrong reasons – recall that IC 814, Indian
Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in
Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India on 24.12.1999,
was hijackedby Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The
aircraft was hijacked by gunmen shortly after it entered Indian airspace at
about 17:30 IST. Hijackers ordered the aircraft to be flown to several locations.
After touching down in Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, the hijackers finally forced
the aircraft to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which at the time was controlled
by the Taliban. The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but
fatally stabbed one and wounded several others.